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William Higinbotham (October 25, 1910 – November 10, 1994) was an American physicist who is best known for his contributions to the development of the first interactive video game, Tennis for Two. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Higinbotham was the son of a steel mill supervisor and grew up with a love of science and technology.
After earning his Bachelor’s degree in physics from Williams College in 1932, Higinbotham went on to receive his Master’s degree in physics from Cornell University in 1936. He then earned his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Cornell in 1948.
During World War II, Higinbotham worked on the Manhattan Project, the top-secret government program that developed the first atomic bomb. After the war, he became a staff member at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, where he worked on developing peaceful uses of atomic energy. In 1958, he became head of the Instrumentation Division at Brookhaven.
It was during his time at Brookhaven that Higinbotham created Tennis for Two, which is widely regarded as one of the earliest examples of interactive electronic entertainment. The game was played on an oscilloscope, a device used for displaying electrical signals, and consisted of a simple two-dimensional simulation of a tennis court. Players used knobs to control the movement of a small dot on the screen, which represented the ball, and tried to hit it over the net and past their opponent.
Higinbotham created Tennis for Two as a way to showcase the potential of interactive technology and to make science more accessible and engaging to the public. The game was first exhibited at a science fair at Brookhaven in 1958 and became an instant hit, attracting thousands of visitors and sparking a wave of interest in interactive video games.
Despite the success of Tennis for Two, Higinbotham remained modest about his achievement and saw the game primarily as a way to promote science education. He continued to work at Brookhaven and made important contributions to the field of nuclear physics throughout his career.
Higinbotham passed away on November 10, 1994, at the age of 84. He is remembered as a pioneer of interactive technology and a passionate advocate for science education. In 2008, he was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his contributions to the development of interactive electronic entertainment.